On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 1:22 PM, Sean DALY <[email protected]> wrote: > Marketers, > > We will soon complete the Sugar Labs trademark policy (draft is here: > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance/Trademark). It's > been a topic of work and discussion in the past few SLOBs meetings.
The working draft is on the Talk Page: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Talk:Sugar_Labs/Governance/Trademark#Sugar_Trademark_Policy There are also some draft usage guidelines here: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance/Trademark/Guidelines > The goal of this policy is not just to protect Sugar Labs marks from > confusion, but to promote Sugar brand awareness. Specifically, to > avoid confusion over what precisely Sugar Labs and the Sugar on a > Stick "distribution" are, while encouraging other projects to build > and develop their own distributions with Sugar, especially liveUSB > solutions which have the best probability of overcoming the OS > installation barrier. > > The best way for an alternate self-contained Sugar distribution to > avoid confusion with Sugar and SoaS is to use a different name. Yet, > at the same time we need to build the Sugar brand name beyond Sugar > the project and Sugar on a Stick. And of course we wish to support all > distributions with Sugar (weak as the distro and desktop brands are). > How can we do this? > > My idea is to create a label program, licensing our marks. This is > sometimes called "ingredient marketing", defined as "an ingredient or > component of a product that has its own brand identity". It's an old > idea - Ray Dolby did it with sound equipment from the 1970s (1,2); > Intel had huge success with the "intel inside" marketing campaign > begun in 1991 (3,4,5). Other examples are TetraPak bricks, Shimano > bicycle parts, NutraSweet sweeteners, GoreTex fabric, DuPont's Teflon. > > Ray Dolby became fabulously rich with his licensing program. I propose > we turn the approach inside out and take inspiration from free > software licensing. With this approach, licensing of Sugar Labs > trademarks will be free, simple and easy as long as certain conditions > are respected by the licensee, in particular: > > * Sugar Labs be informed by e-mail to the trademark alias of the > project's sponsor, URL, contact information, and proposed project name > (not a name used by Sugar Labs, e.g. "Sugar on a Stick"), with > positive reply; > * The project's page not display Sugar marks too prominently, to avoid > confusion in visitors unaware of the SL site; the project's page links > to the SL website; > * SFC/Sugar Labs reserves the right to revoke the license > * others? > > > When would licensing not be routine, i.e. require consideration before > licensing? > * project name or logo or URL too close to our marks, risk of confusion > * insistence on association of another brand with Sugar > * inclusion of nonfree software with Sugar > * others? > > > What could motivate us to revoke a license? > * atrocious product quality with no bugfixing > * abandonment of a project (imagine the horror of a well-referenced > but old and unmaintained distro) > * confusing marketing, not respecting the spirit of our license > * using SL marks in conjunction with other marks in ways which could > imply SL partnership or endorsement which doesn't exist > * refusal to comply with Sugar software's licenses (GPL) > * others? > > Naturally, in the above cases we will want to reflect upon what > recourse we would have if a licensee started creating problems. > > > Intel achieved their fabulous brand awareness (Nr. 23 in the 2009 > Millward Brown Brandz Top 100) mostly due to pharaonic advertising > spend. We won't have that budget, so we will be inventing cheaper and > more effective ways of supporting Sugar distributions. I believe a > label program can help us support a diverse group of Sugar projects, > growing the Sugar brand and increasing Sugar adoption in schools and > homes. > > > OK, after objectives, examples, and theory, comes the fun (and > difficult) part - choosing the label text - our "circled intel inside > sticker", if you will. I believe the best approach is to communicate > the *idea* of a remix or a spin, but without using those words (which > have DJ connotations); one of Sugar's brand values is playfulness, and > we get to call our remixes something different from everybody else :D. > So perhaps best to keep the sweet tooth association, such as has > served us well with ice cream flavors for SoaS versions: > > a sugar treat > a sugar confection > a sugar refinement > a sugar preparation > a sugar mix > a sugar concoction > a sugar recipe > a sugar formula > a sugar sprinkling > a sugar crystal > > Alternatively, a more technical word could work; it might even be > preferable, so that teachers understand that Sugar is computer > software, e.g.: > > a sugar construction > a sugar formation > a sugar creation > a sugar variety > a sugar variation > a sugar difference > a sugar combination > a sugar special > > I use the "a" article to imply there are others; but perhaps someone > has a different idea? "xxx sweeted by Sugar"??? > Visually speaking, I would see our logo typeface (VAG Rounded Light) > with the word "sugar" being one of the random color combinations and > the other words in grey. The sugar mark will need the (R) of course, > and if the label is online it should link to the SL site, perhaps even > a page explaining what "a sugar xxx" is. > > Input greatly appreciated. > > Sean. > > > 1. http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/njtip/v2/n1/4/ > 2. > http://www.dolby.com/professional/technology/licensing/getting-licensed.html > 3. http://www.intel.com/pressroom/intel_inside.htm > 4. > http://www.intangiblebusiness.com/Brand-Services/Marketing-Services/News/Ingredient-branding-case-study-Intel~466.html > 5. http://tpmtoday.blogspot.com/2007/04/thoughts-on-ingredient-marketing.html > _______________________________________________ > Marketing mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/marketing > -walter -- Walter Bender Sugar Labs http://www.sugarlabs.org _______________________________________________ Marketing mailing list [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/marketing
